An Unexpected Visitor
by lil Miss Mysterious
Summary: "Could it be that Borusa had found them and left without him? No, no matter how much Borusa found him annoying, there was no way he'd leave Theta Sigma Lungbarrowmas, known academy troublemaker and Deca member, back on this infant of a planet." Theta Sigma, The Doctor, is lost on Sol III. Lucky for him, Rani Chandra manages to bring him to Sarah Jane... (adopted from princessmelz)
1. Chapter 1

Theta Sigma was, quite actually, having what he could've considered the time of his lives…if it hadn't been for the fact he was now dreadfully lost.

It had all started with a simple trip to Sol III. Except it wasn't 'simple,' due mostly to the fact that students at the academy usually didn't leave on field trips unless they were very, very, very highly regarded by their Tutors, and considered responsible enough to handle traveling to a lower level planet without causing any trouble.

Theta was neither of those. By a long shot.

His older brother, Braxiatel, might've been considered for such a treat. Braxiatel was far better a than Theta at studies, and farther better at being able to get away with acting like an absolute snot. But instead, Theta was accompanied by the rest of his friend group, the Deca. Which…was extremely unadvisable, at the very least. Some of them, had they been brought individually, could have maybe, maybe been trusted with not exploiting the opportunity. But all together? What was Tutor Borusa thinking?

Then again, that was the question, wasn't it? Borusa had actually gotten permission from the academy to take them, the Deca, a group of very clever and very rebellious students, to Sol III. And he had actually been cleared to go through with it. Theta was sure that either sepulchasm had actually frozen over, or that this was some sort of Celestial Intervention Agency scheme to wipe them out of existence. Or Theta's best mate, Koschei, had hypnotized Borusa and the rest of the academy officials, though Koschei had swore on Rasslion he hadn't.

Despite all this, however, Theta had actually enjoyed his time of on Sol III. He and the other Deca had managed to find ways to break away from Borusa's watchful gaze, which allowed them to properly enjoy themselves. Theta had found himself drinking an earth 'milkshake,' playing around in the earthling's knickknack shops (primitive stores made to be full of junk-amazing), and getting plenty of opportunity to gawk at the local intelligent life. The earthlings were strange to look at, looking like time lords but much too small, much too frail. Looking at them was like looking at a faint, barely there imprint of a shoe in the dirt. A two dimensional outline that looked just enough to resemble the print but not at all the three dimensional shoe itself; soon enough, with the help of the wind and rain, it would be gone from memory.  
Theta found them in his memory perfectly vivid.

The way they talked, barking and laughing, the way they walked, scuttling by or lounging around the stone paved squares, the way they had multi colored garments, each for a specific part of their body, with ridiculous designs stitched on that were bore proudly. It was ridiculous. It was wonderful, beautiful even. It was one of Rassilon's fever dreams with a bit more greenery and level 5 life forms.

Theta wasn't the only one who found them amusing. Koschei thought it funny the way the way they went about, with their loud voices and waving limbs and colorful reactions to every little thing. He practically rolled with laughter the way an earthling jumped and cursed foul when they found an earth bird pecking around their food. Ushas was of a different opinion. She found the planet, with its primitive structures, smelly and noisy transports, and even noisier humans, as practically miserable. She found the 'milkshakes' a bit too sugary, the 'ham burgers' a bit too chewy, and the knickknacks a bit too stupid. She did, however, concede to the humans and their weird ways, as well as their silly animals, to be fascinating from a scientific standpoint. Not as fascinating as Theta would've liked her to say, but fascinating enough. Drax took interest in their technology, in their cellular devices that they screamed into, into the big screened televisions they displayed behind glass walls. He nearly regenerated when he found out there was a store willing to allow him to play around with some of them. It took all ten of the Deca to drag him away from a device playing some game that involved flinging enraged birds at boxes.  
'You're as primitively entertained as the stupid natives,' Ushas had complained.  
'It was a good game!' protested Drax.  
'Who knew earthlings were entertained by infantile physics? Oh, and Drax,' Jelpax said.  
'You didn't even try it!'  
'You didn't happen to snag one of those devices with it one it, did you?' Mortimus piped up before Theta could ask, Mortimus' eyes glinting with mischief.  
'Weeeelllllll,' Drax slowly pulled out a white cellular device from his robes, 'It depends who's asking…'  
Mortimus grinned. Jelpax was shaking his head, and Ushas looked less impressed than if Drax showed them a lint collection.  
'Congrats, Drax,' Vansell deadpanned. 'You proved that you could successfully steal from a level five planet shop.'  
'Aw, c'mon, Vansell,' Koschei smirked. 'At least he was more successful than that time he tried to steal candy from a baby.'  
Vansell's face turned red.  
'False accusations!' Drax waved the device in protest. 'I have never stolen anything from babies in my lives! Except maybe that one time!'  
'I don't think the rest of us want to here about your criminal exploits,' Jelpax said, just as Theta interjected, 'I would!' in the most obnoxiously eager voice possible, earning quite the glare from Jelpax.  
'Maybe we should do something else besides fight about this,' Millennia said in a quiet tone. Rallon nodded. 'We shouldn't waste the time we have; this is the only time we'll be getting to explore another planet-legally,' he added after Theta gave him a look.  
'That's right,' Magnus said. 'Mortimus, if you and Drax want to play primitive physics games, you can go sit at that bench over there,' Magnus pointed, 'While the rest of us do some more actually exploring.'  
'If we're splitting up, I think I'd rather go back to the library,' Ushas said. 'Even the earthlings know when to shut up there. Or go back to that pet store with the earth rats.'  
'If it wouldn't be too much of a bother, Rallon and I would actually like to go back to that 'caramel apple' cart we saw earlier,' Millennia added.  
Magnus rolled his eyes. 'Fine. Do what you want. We'll meet back here in,' he waved his hand, 'forty micro measures. Don't do anything too stupid, or I'll have to use the mind probe on you.'  
'Yes Lord President,' the rest of the Deca had chorused in unison, and off they had went their separate ways, until eventually Theta had found himself lost and alone among the earthlings, under their singular sun and blue sky.

Which was exactly the problem, now that Theta thought about it. He had come back, after forty (more like fifty) micro measures to the same place where Magnus'd said they'd meet and…no one. Absolutely no one. And Theta had checked-all around the square, under the benches, behind trees, inside the shops-no sign of any of the Deca. Even when he reached out telepathically, he felt nothing. Some of them were very good at hiding under their mental shields, but others? He should've been at least been able to feel someone and not this strange, unsettling silence that responded to his every call with such…emptiness. Theta shuddered. He felt like he could hear his time stream echo in the deathly silence.  
Could it be that Borusa had found them and left without him? No, no matter how much Borusa found him annoying, there was no way he'd leave Theta Sigma Lungbarrowmas, known academy troublemaker and Deca member, back on this infant of a planet. The kind of upset that it would cause among the academy officials…unless they were in on it. No, that'd be stupid. If they wanted him gone, the Lord Burner could've just gotten rid of him already.

It could've been that the rest of the Deca tricked Borusa into thinking he was with them. Which shouldn't've been possible unless Koschei had done a really good hypnosis trick…would Koschei have just left him on Sol III? Well…he did have to get back at Theta for that beard shaving incident. But would the other Deca even let him? Mortimus might've found it funny, but someone like Vansell? No way. Unless Koschei managed to put all the other Deca under hypnosis, but that was doubtful. Ushas would've fed him to her rats if he had dared even try.

Ugh. This too frustrating to even think about. Worst of all, Theta was starting to suspect his perception filter was somehow wearing out. Some earthling girl was watching him, brow furrowed, like he was some sort of mystery equation and she was trying very hard to puzzle out the right answer.

Naturally, being the mature and educated timelord he was, Theta stuck his tongue out at her.

That settled it. She walked over to where he was, looking very determined. Theta wondered if he'd made her angry. He didn't exactly care for getting possibly assaulted by some earthling tot.  
"Excuse me, are you from here?" she asked him.  
"No, out of town," he gave her an easy, confident smile.  
"Are you lost?" She asked. "You've been wandering off around the square for the past few minutes."  
"You've been watching me?" Theta asked her.  
The girl shrugged. "I was deciding whether or not to talk to you. You look like you need some help."  
"It's nothing too complicated." Theta shrugged back. "I just lost my friends. We were supposed to meet back here, but they didn't show."  
"Were they the other kids in the red robes, led by an older man?" She asked.  
Theta started. "You saw them?"  
She nodded. "Saw them leave a while before you came, actually."  
So they *did* leave without him. Bloody gits. He would've thrown a proper internal fit then and there if the girl hadn't continued on by saying, "They left in a spaceship." Theta gave a nervous laugh he tried to pretend was good natured. "Spaceship? What do you mean, spaceship?"  
"A group of kids in red robes came all walked back into the square, and then a black trash bin appeared out of thin air, making some kind of whistling sound. The older man got out and motioned for the kids to come inside, and then they did, and the bin disappeared with just a whistle." The girl lowered her voice. "No one noticed. Except for me."  
Theta rubbed his palms together, feeling the sweat on them. He tried to give her his best unruffled chuckle. "You've just made it sound like you watched a scene out of some scary movie."  
"I'm not going to hurt you," The girl reassured him. "I just want to help."  
"Very reassuring," He said, nodding and giving her the fakest smile since the time he had pretended to enjoy Mortimus' lasagna. "However, I really don't think you can help."  
The girl was undeterred. "I think I know what planet you're from."  
Now this was interesting. Theta crossed his arms. "Try me."  
"Gallifrey."  
Theta uncrossed his arms. "Okay, okay, and how did you know that?" He waved his arms. "You're a level five planet. You barely have any concept of space travel or life on other planets." Theta regarded her with suspicion. "Are you with the earth government? The shadow proclamation? Blood smugglers?"  
"My name's Rani Chandra," The girl said. "And I'm not with anyone, thank you." "You're quite welcome," Theta replied.  
The girl, Rani, rolled her eyes. Now she was starting to look a little frustrated. "Look. Me and my friends Clyde and Luke, and Luke's mom Sarah Jane, run into aliens all the time. Sarah's got an alien supercomputer in her attic. She's practically an expert on this sort of thing. We can help you get home. We've done it before."  
Theta paused, considering his options. He could take a chance with Rani Chandra, meet all her earthling friends who had apparently 'run into aliens all the time'….or he could end up wandering Sol III for the rest of his lives (or whenever it was Borusa came back for him) and become a shobogan hermit. As much as being a hermit sounded fun, meeting some New Media Age earthling tots who claimed to know all about aliens, and even knew the name of his planet, sounded much more interesting.  
"Alright," Theta nodded, "Take me to your friends."  
Rani smiled. "Okay. You won't regret this, I promise."  
"Well," Theta said, following her down the road, "I would hope not."


	2. Chapter 2

"What's your name? I'm sorry, I forgot to ask."  
"Uhhh, Theta." Theta smacked his forehead. "Wait, no, I should've picked something cool, like Fred."  
"Theta's fine, honestly."  
Theta shrugged. "If you say so. How did you know about Gallifrey?"  
Rani paused for a moment. Theta could feel her hesitation. "Sarah Jane…used to travel with someone. An alien someone. Like you." "Like a no good, rule breaking, time wrecking, interfering renegade timelord?" Theta asked her. Rani tensed. She had tried to hide it from him, and she would've been very good at it, if he had been any other earthling tot. But he had noticed the fraction her eyes widened, the slight pulling on the corners of her mouth, the jolt of uncertainty that went on inside her mind and shook her fragile human mental shields-  
"Can you stop doing that?" Rani asked him.  
Theta was the one tensing this time. "Doing what?"  
"It feels like you're…" She shook her head. "Like…someone is creeping in on my mind. Like I'm being watched inside my own head." "Oh." Theta said. "I'm…sorry."  
"So it was you?" Rani asked. "Yeah," Theta said. He felt his fingers curl into half-fists. "That's why you asked, isn't it?"  
"Just making sure," Rani said. "Didn't know if anyone else was sneaking up on us or something."  
"If there was anyone sneaking up on us, I probably would've noticed."  
"With whatever it was you were doing with your mind?" Rani asked him.  
Theta couldn't (or rather, wouldn't) hide his smirk. "I thought you said you've met aliens before."  
"Yes, and I usually prefer when they're not poking their way into my mind." Rani said. "Do people usually do that on your planet, or are you just a creep?"  
Theta shrugged, feigning being nonchalant. "You're the one who knows about Gallifrey. You tell me."  
"You're a creep," Rani decided. Theta grinned. "Thanks, Rani. I really appreciate that."  
"You're quite welcome," she replied, side eyeing him.  
They walked in silence for a little while before Theta said, "You know I was just teasing, right? About hating on renegades."  
"Yeah." "No, really. I don't…hate renegades. Even if they're breaking all the rules and stuff. Unless they're proper gits about it."  
Rani raised an eyebrow. "Like you?" "Rude!" Theta said. She gave him a look. "Fine, fine, rude but true. Though to be honest with you…" His eyes drifted to the pavement. "I'm probably halfway there." "What, to becoming a renegade?"  
Theta sucked in his breath through his teeth. "Let's just say I'm not the most model student at the academy…It's a real sepping wonder why old Borusa even let me on this trip in the first place."  
"You and your friends were on a school field trip?" Rani asked him. "Something like that," Theta said. "But you see, my friends and I aren't exactly…how do I put this…" "The kind of kids that a teacher wants to take on a school field trip? Ever? No matter how much of a salary bonus they got?"  
"Pretty much."  
Rani's brow furrowed. "Then why'd he want to take you?" "I don't know!" Theta threw his hands up in the air. "I don't know. It's a question I've been wondering ever since Borusa told us we were going. I'm starting to think Koschei managed to hypnotize the entire academy staff."  
"Your friend hypnotizes people?"  
"Just for silly pranks and stuff." For some reason, Theta felt a little defensive. "It's not…mean or anything. Or it's a little mean, but it's not usually that big of a deal. Better than being a stuck up about every single thing."  
"Is your friend really good enough to hypnotize every teacher at your school?"  
Theta considered. "Kos is good, but…maybe not that good. But the only other explanation I can think of is that the Academy wanted to finally get rid of me, but I have my doubts that they would've just left me here. A roguish older time tot on a level five planet?" Theta snorted. "The stuff of nightmares, right there. Well, for them at least." He looked at Rani. "You don't think I'm a nightmare, right?"  
"We'll see about that," Rani said.  
Theta shrugged. "I can work with that. Who'd Sarah Jane travel with?"  
"One of, um…a renegade." Rani said. "He liked humans, and exploring other planets."  
Theta grinned. "Nice."  
"Yeah…They were best friends." From her tone, Theta got the hint all was not well. "So what happened?"  
"He had something to do," Rani said. "Go back to Gallifrey, I think?"  
"And he went?" Theta shook his head. "The nerve of some people. 'Course, not like he could ignore a summons…"  
"He couldn't take her, so he just dropped her back here. Back in her time, I mean."  
"And he never came back for her?" Rani hesitated. "He…It took a while. A long while." "So what's he doing now?"  
"Traveling." She waved her hand. "With some other people."  
"Wow." Theta frowned. "What an arse."  
She rolled her eyes. "The Do-he's not an arse."  
"Seems like he's an arse to me." Theta said. "I wouldn't just leave my friends all by themselves. What's his name? You sounded like you were about to say it."  
"Look," Rani said. "He's not an arse. I've met him before." "Joy." "He's Sarah Jane's friend. One of Sarah Jane's best friends," Rani continued. "And you are not allowed to tell her I told you any of this, because it's personal. I probably shouldn't have even said this much in the first place."  
Theta let a moment of silence pass before saying in a quieter voice, "She really liked him, didn't she?"  
"Yeah…" Rani glanced away. "Yeah, she did."  
They were walking up past a row of houses now, next to a wall. Rani stopped at an entryway. The paved pathway lead to a large, red bricked house.  
"Sarah Jane's place?" Theta asked. "And Luke's?"  
Rani nodded. "C'mon, I'll take you inside. That way Sarah Jane can send you home."  
"By doing what, exactly?"  
"Using her supercomputer," Rani said. "In the attic. It can transport you home just fi-" "Rani!"  
A woman was walking towards them. She had bright eyes and light brown hair and as soon as he felt her presence, Theta felt his inferior organs fall into his stockings.  
If one could describe their personal time stream as a strip of fabric woven in the blanket of Time, then the people and places that fell into that time stream were overlapping strips that had stitched themselves to it on the moment of intersection. To someone who was sensitive to the stitching and stretching of Time's blanket, a premature crossing over would cause a pull in the threading, making it possible to feel the stitches of what will for them, and what was for another.  
It was like Theta had stepped onto a trip wire.  
"Sarah Jane!" Rani replied, humanly oblivious to Theta's inner toil. "What're you doing?"  
"I was just picking up some groceries," The woman, Sarah Jane, explained.  
Rani eyed the bag with suspicion. "Just groceries?"  
"Thankfully, yes, this time." Sarah Jane laughed, causing Theta to shudder. Jamais vu. Jamais vu. Suddenly, Theta had the godawful feeling that he knew just who Sarah Jane's old friend was.  
"I really am a git," he said in a horrified whisper.  
Sarah Jane gave him an odd look, and then addressed Rani. "Who's your friend?"  
"Sarah Jane, this is Theta." Rani said. "I met him in town. He's lost and he's, uh, not from around here."  
"Oh." Sarah Jane smiled. "That's alright, we can get you home just fine. It's nice to meet you."  
"Yeah," Theta swallowed hard. He tried to smile through the cold feeling sitting in his stomach. "Likewise." Sarah Jane seemed to notice his unease. "Is everything okay?" "Oh, you know, just the strangeness of being left all by yourself on a completely different planet than yours in a completely different star system," Theta attempted to joke, forcing a chuckle.  
"Don't worry, we'll have you home in just a pop," Sarah Jane reassured him. "If you'll both follow me inside…?"  
Theta nodded. They followed her into the house (non-sentient; expected of earthlings, obviously, with their telepathically deaf minds, though still eerie in its mentally inanimate quiet), up a staircase, into what Theta supposed was the attic. He looked around. It was cluttered, with books and an earth computer and desks full of junk that was definitely not from this planet or this century. "Woah," Theta said, hands trailing over various pieces of technology, fiddling with trinkets that could probably kill the planet.  
"Please don't touch anything," Sarah Jane said, quickly, looking over at him. Theta dropped his hands to his side, and then resumed his fiddling as soon as she had turned her back.  
"Mister Smith, I need you," said Sarah Jane, and with that the panels of the entire wall she stood in front of unfolded with a swoosh and smoke and plenty of fanfare.  
Theta grinned, momentarily forgetting his anxiety. "That's quite the trick you've got there, isn't it?" He walked towards the supercomputer, skimming his hands over the control pad. "Buttons, levers, switches, oh my…"  
"Don't touch anything," Sarah Jane repeated her warning again, before Mister Smith said, "Hello, Sarah Jane. Who is this?"  
"This is Theta," Sarah Jane replied. "He's gotten lost just this afternoon and was hoping we could transport him back to his home planet."  
"You're not an Artificial Intelligence, are you?" Theta asked Mister Smith. "Not a sentient object, either, no," Theta ran a finger down the side of the control panel, "You're inhabiting this machine here, using it to facilitate communication. You're a xylok, aren't you?" "That would be correct," Mister Smith replied.  
"See, now, Rani, sometimes, I do pay attention in class," Theta looked over and gave her a little smile, at which Rani rolled her eyes before asking, "They teach you about how to identify all the species in the universe back on Gallifrey?"  
"Gallifrey?" Sarah Jane looked first at Rani, then Theta. She spoke in a very careful sort of voice, like they had just poked at an elephant in the room and she was afraid that it had awoken. "You're from…/Gallifrey/?"  
Theta gave a slight frown. "Is there a problem with that?"  
Sarah Jane paused, shaking her head before clearing her throat. "No, that's-that's fine."  
"It's clearly not if you had a reaction like that," Theta leaned on the control panel. "What's wrong?"  
Sarah paused again, clasping her hands together, and Theta stared at her, attempting to peer into the workings of her mind. He could imagine it, almost see it, really, the thin human mental shields-these ones certainly harder and more opaque than the usual, from toil and travel and trouble, but human all the same. Gallifrey. The word had triggered the gears of her mind, and he was quite curious to know why. Was it because of his possible future self, the story Rani had told him about what had happened? No, that wasn't quite right. She was shocked. As if she hadn't expected him to come from Gallifrey. As if he couldn't have possibly come from Gallifrey. Had she been told of the non-interference policy? Perhaps that was why, but…it was either that, or she had some knowledge of Gallifrey that he didn't, some knowledge that caused her mind to spin furiously at the prospect of how it couldn't and shouldn't be…what did she know about Gallifrey that he didn't? What did she know?  
"Theta?" Rani asked.  
He shuddered, blinked, and time returned to its normal speed again. "What?"  
Sarah Jane and Rani were both looking at him, though the young earthling tot was looking far more suspicious.  
"Were you…doing that thing again?" Rani asked him.  
"What thing?" He and Sarah Jane asked at the same time. Sarah Jane looked back at him with newly formed wary in her eyes. "What thing?" she asked again.  
It was Theta's turn to feel put on the spot. "Nothing," he said. "Just…just a thing, thing. A Gallifreyan thing, thing. You wouldn't understand."  
"What, that your entire species is full of mind peepin' creeps?" Rani asked him.  
"Rani!" Sarah Jane scolded.  
"Well, it's *true*," Rani said. "He was staring at you, like he was trying to get inside your mind."  
"I prefer the term 'telepathically aware,' but I mean, to each their own, I guess," Theta replied, shrugging. "Is that why you're so worried about Gallifrey?"  
"I'm not worried about Gallifrey," Sarah Jane said. She sighed. "I'm just…not sure if we can get you home." "What, too far?"  
"No, too…" Sarah Jane bit her lip. "Complicated. I'm not entirely sure…Mister Smith?"  
"I'll see what I can do, Sarah Jane," the xylok replied. "Commencing transport scan…" The compter made a few processing noises before making a sound that very much sounded like a dying cat.  
"Mister Smith?" Sarah Jane asked.  
"My apologies, Sarah Jane," he replied. "It seems I am unable to access the necessary means to transport Theta back to Gallifrey."  
"Well," Theta said. He felt the sweatiness of his palms return, and as he ran his fingers through his blond curls, he touched the nape of his neck and felt ice. "That's just the trick, isn't it…"  
"What do we do now?" Rani asked her.  
"Don't worry," Sarah Jane reassured them. "Perhaps we can't use Mister Smith this time, but there's bound to be another way somehow. We'll just have to figure it out."  
"And how are you so sure of that?" Theta asked her.  
"Oh, just years of experience, doing this sort of thing." She smiled at him, and for some reason he didn't know (it was the Eternals screwing with him further, that's what) he caught a glimpse of something that felt like the past and blurted out, "Scarf."  
She looked at him in confusion. "What?"  
"Sure," he said. "I meant to say sure." He went for an easy smile. "Don't worry, I'm not particularly bummed or anything. I'd probably be having to do maths back at the Academy. Besides," the smile stretched into a grin. "it may be irrational of me, but human beings are quite my favorite species."  
Sarah Jane stared at him like he'd pulled an entire dimension out of his ear. It was slightly uncomfortable, to say the least.  
"Did I…say something that offended you?" He asked her.  
"No," she said. "It just…reminded me of someone-thing. Something. Never mind it." There was the sound of the door being opened downstairs, and a voice called out, "Mum?"  
"Luke and Clyde are back," Rani said. She seemed excited.  
"Rani and I are in the attic!" Sarah Jane called back down. "Don't bother coming up, we'll be down in a minute!"  
"Do you think they'll freak out when they see me?" Theta asked Rani.  
"They've seen aliens that look much less human than you do," Rani replied, "So I doubt it, unless you try creeping in on their minds." "I look human?" Theta huffed, seeming offended. "No, that can't be quite right. *You* look Gallifreyan. Or, well, that isn't quite right either. Earthlings are much too…small." He pinched his finger and thumb together, leaving a little space in between. "Limited mental space, with too few limbs and too few dimensions."  
"Oh, come off it," Rani said. He gave her a look. She hesitated. "You're not…wearing some sort of image changer, are you? To look human?"  
Theta smirked. "Oh, no. That'd be far too silly. How could a mere image changer fake all this gloriousness?" He gestured at his body.  
Rani rolled her eyes. "Right."  
"Mum!" called the voice from downstairs again. "Come on, you two," Sarah Jane said from behind them. "Perhaps Luke and Clyde will be able to help us figure out a way to get out of our predicament over tea."  
And with that, they headed downstairs. This was turning out to be better than maths already.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey there! Sorry it's been so long since the last update-and sorry this one is so short and mostly just dialogue. But hopefully I'll have time to be posting more chapters soon! Thanks for reading!**

The first thing Theta did once he was down the stairs was rush to examine the first person he ran into, a boy with short black hair wearing a blue jacket.  
"You're human!" He excitedly proclaimed, far too close to the boy's face for comfort.  
"Oi, mate, give a guy a little space, yeah?" he said, giving Theta a slight push.  
"Mum, who's this this?" the voice behind him.  
"This is Theta," Sarah Jane said behind them. She sounded a little exasperated, but Theta paid that no mind. "He's out of town-not from Earth. He might be staying with us for a little while."  
"Theta?" the first boy asked. He looked rather incredulous about the whole situation.  
"I would've gone with Fred, but it was a bit too late for that," Theta replied, giving the boy what he thought was a dazzling grin.  
"Uh…" The boy looked even more confused and bewildered. "Sure, mate."  
"But you!" Theta exclaiming, pointing grandly at the boy behind him, one with brown hair and a similar jacket.  
"Me?" He asked.  
"What a specimen you are, my young fellow!" Theta said, stepping up close to him. "You're human! You're perfectly human! You're a little too human to even be human!" Theta poked him on the chest. "You're like-you're like those perfect cakes in the display cases of shops that are actually made of plastic instead of cake!"  
"Um," the brown haired boy said. He looked a bit stunned. "How do you know all of this?"  
"A magician never reveals their tricks, sir!" Theta drew himself up and puffed out his chest.  
"Can you detect my genetic composition somehow compared to everyone else?"  
Theta deflated. "Oi, what did I tell you, a magician never reveals their tricks?"  
The brown haired boy seemed unresponsive to Theta's sudden change in mood. "But you can, can't you?'  
"It's a little something like that, yeah," Theta sighed. "My noses are quite good."  
"Noses?" The boy raised an eyebrow. "As in plural?"  
"Uh, does anyone want to explain what's going on?" The first boy, the black haired boy, asked. "Rani? Sarah Jane?"  
"Sarah Jane already told you, Clyde," Rani replied, looking a little annoyed herself. "This creep's an alien who got left behind on his school trip."  
"They do that?" The black haired boy, who Theta now recognized as Clyde, asked. "Aliens take school trips to earth? What, is it like going downtown to the museum or something? Just get your permission slip signed and pop off into the space bus?"  
"Of course they do!" Theta said, waving his hand. "I know being level five really puts a limit on how you interact with the rest of space time, but really, Clyde-"  
"You said that you were surprised they let you on the school trip," Rani interrupted. "Because you're such a troublemaker."  
"Rani," Theta said in a very solemn tone, "I'm starting to think you have it out for me."  
Rani gave him a look. "Mmmhmm."  
"I'm starting to think," Theta said, his voice taking on a slight quiver, "That you might not even like me."  
"Mmm."  
He made a face at her, which she simply rolled her eyes at. "You're actually starting to remind me of my friend Ushas. You ought to get to know her sometime, when they come back for me. She likes rats."  
"Rats?" Rani asked, looking off put.  
"Yeah, rats. You know, furry things with the big teeth and the hairless tail, about yay big," Theta raised his hands apart to the approximate size of a large rat. "I know you have them here on earth. I read a guidebook, once."  
"They have rats back on Gallifrey?" Rani asked.  
"Theta's from Gallifrey?" The still unnamed brown haired boy asked. "Like the Doctor?"  
"Oi, mate, this weirdo isn't anything like the Doctor, that's for sure," Clyde muttered.  
"Oh, come on now Clyde," Theta waved off the insult. "I'm sure this ol' 'weirdo' here is loads better than any ol' Doctor. Besides," Theta's voice took on a devilish tone, "anyone going around calling themselves 'The Doctor' must be some kind of weirdo, if not an even bigger weirdo, than me."  
"Sure, mate" Clyde said, giving him the side eye. Theta winked, causing Clyde to intensify his side eye.  
"Yes, Luke," Sarah Jane responded, sounding more exasperated, "Theta's from Gallifrey, just like the Doctor. Now, can we all stop standing in the middle of the entrance, so I can finally make us some tea?"  
"Do you think she'll give us cookies?" Theta whispered to Clyde. He simply shook his head and walked off.  
"Well, that's no way to give a proper answer," Theta grumbled, following after him.  
While Sarah Jane went to work making tea, Theta took a seat at the dining table next to Rani, who immediately scooted a little bit away from him.  
"What am I, diseased with the time virus?" Theta asked, quite offended.  
"I just don't want to be too close to you in case you do that thing again," she huffed, readjusting her chair.  
"Well if it really freaks you out, then I guess I won't do it," Theta replied sourly.  
"'Thing again'?" Clyde asked. "He does things? What sort of things?"  
"All kinds of things, my boy," Theta gestured grandly. "Eating, sleeping, making complicated but ultimately useless doohickeys, homework-well, actually I never do that-"  
"He reads minds," Rani said.  
"You're reading my mind right now?" Clyde looked very alarmed.  
"Welllll," Theta said, swinging his legs back and forth underneath his chair. "I could. But I won't. Because Rani doesn't want me to."  
"Right then," Clyde said under his breath. "Thank you, Rani." She nodded in acknowledgement.  
"So Time Lords are telepathic," Luke said.  
"Uh, yeah." Theta stuck out his tongue. "Obviously. Though I'm not really a Time Lord-y Time Lord yet. I mean, I haven't even graduated the Academy."  
"You're still in school?" Luke sounded surprised.  
"What, do I look old enough to be a hundred twenty or something?" Theta asked. "'Cause if I do, I think I'm gonna have to start taking all those beauty care tips Millennia gives me to hearts. Heh," Theta smirked. "To hearts. Two hearts. That was a little gallifreyan anatomy joke for you there," he added.  
Clyde snorted, and Rani put her head in her hands in what seemed like despair.  
"You went on a school trip," Luke said, ignoring the awful pun, "And they left without you. Was there no one there to notice that you were gone?"  
"Of course there were people there to notice I was gone!" Theta exclaimed. "C'mon now, silly, the aliens that loomed you made you smarter than this, you're like, humanity's peak!"  
"You can detect the Bane?" Luke asked, seeming a bit shocked.  
"The Bane!" Theta exclaimed. "Oh, now those guys are the weirdos!"  
"Right," Rani muttered.  
"Well, Luke, since the Bane's were the ones that loomed you, of course I can still smell a little bit of them on you. But I can tell that you're related to Sarah Jane somehow because of the matching brain waves."  
"Oi, I thought you said no mind reading!" Clyde protested.  
"I'm not mind reading," Theta rolled his eyes. "This is basic stuff. It's like, uh, what's a good human analogy…knowing that someone's related to someone cause they've got similar ears. Yeah. That makes sense, right?"  
"I guess so," Clyde conceded. "But I dunno who looks at ears for family resemblance."  
"Rani said you told her you were surprised that you'd get to go on this trip because you're a troublemaker at school," Luke continued. "So why would they want to take you to another planet?"  
"I don't know," Theta said. Luke stared at him.  
"I don't know!" Theta gestured helplessly. "I didn't think about why I was getting to go. I mean, I was surprised, but I was also thinking more about the trip itself than the reasons behind the trip!"  
"Theta thought it might be because one of his friends does hypnosis," Rani told Luke. "That his friend hypnotized all the teachers into allowing them to go or something."  
"But," Theta added. "I'm not really convinced on that idea. Kos is good, but not that good. I mean, he's really quite amazing at it, totally super awesome, but even being totally super awesome doesn't mean you can hypnotize all the Academy teachers. I don't even know if Rassilon could do that, honest."  
"Well, someone's got a crush," Rani said, as Sarah Jane placed the tray of tea and cookies on the table.  
"I do not!" Theta said, feeling his face flush. "It's not-Kos is just my best friend, that's all! It's not my fault that he's cool!"  
"What's the name of your friend again, Theta?" Sarah Jane asked him.  
"Kos," Theta repeated, carefully. "Koschei Oakdown. Although sometimes he occasionally remarks about how he wants to go by 'The Master,' but-uh-you alright there?"  
Sarah Jane had suddenly gone very still, and was looking at Theta with an expression he did not want to place, because even without knowing it, he felt like shuddering.  
Sarah Jane cleared her throat very loudly and nodded stiffly. "Yes, I'm alright, thank you."  
"Mum?" Luke asked, but Sarah Jane simply shook her head and offered a slight smile. "I'm alright, Luke."  
Theta decided he didn't want to know what that was all about for now, considering how it completely annihilated his desire for tea and cookies. Despite Sarah Jane's super obvious cover up and Theta's own relentless curiosity, however, even he knew when to stop asking questions.  
"So uh, anyways," Theta said. "I don't really think it was him. I only have two other theories besides that. One of which is that Borusa left me here intentionally because he was jealous of how much cooler I am than him, but I don't really believe that one."  
"Because you're not that cool?" Rani asked.  
"No," Theta said, "I already told you. Having someone like me left on this planet would be a nightmare for not only the Academy but probably the rest of them as well."  
"And why would that be, Theta?" Sarah Jane asked, brow furrowed. "What sort of trouble are you up to at your school that would make them have 'nightmares' about leaving you on earth?"  
"Uh, stealing time from teachers' lectures?" Theta asked. He felt like he was being examined under a microscope with the way she looked at him, so intensely curious. He wondered if it had anything to do with how she stiffened up so much a moment ago, but then decided not to think about it. "Just messing around during labs and stuff. Look, it's due to the noninterference policy. Leaving someone who's bound to cause trouble in the cradle of a baby civilization so totally breaks the First Law of Time, and uh, no one likes breaking Laws on Gallifrey."  
"Did you seriously just call us all babies?" Clyde asked.  
"No offense, but you're level five." Theta said. "You're…basically babies in terms of civilizations, yeah. Sorry about that."  
"But you aren't planning to cause us any sort of trouble, are you?" Sarah Jane asked.  
"Ummmm," Theta was starting to sweat a little under her gaze. "I guess not…? I don't want to get thrown out of your house. I'm not ready to be a hermit."  
Sarah Jane smiled at this, allowing Theta a breath of relief. "Don't worry, we aren't going to be throwing you out anytime soon."  
"That's good," Theta smiled back. "I was really concerned for a second there."  
"What's the third theory?" Rani asked.  
"What?"  
"You said you had two other theories besides your friend," Rani explained. "One was that you were left here intentionally. What's the other one?"  
"Someone wants you to be here stuck on earth all by yourself, so they caused your teacher and the rest of your class to leave without you," Luke said. "That's it, isn't it?"  
"Yes!" Theta said, sounding a little too excited. "The humanest human finally shows off his great smarts!"  
"Do you know of anyone who would want you to be stuck on earth?" Luke asked.  
"Uh, not really," Theta said. "Unless it's some random enemy from my totally wacky hijinks filled future. Or-oh, wait. Oh no. Oh sep. Oh sep, that's bad."  
"What is it?" the rest of them asked all at once.  
"This circles back to my second theory," Theta said, feeling his hearts start to beat harder in his chest as his mind race. "About Borusa leaving me here intentionally. About how me being here breaks the First Law of Time."  
"You think your teacher left you here," Luke started, "because-"  
"Because he totally wants to frame me!" Theta exclaimed in a panicked flail. "Because he could make it look like I intentionally disobeyed his orders and transgressed against the First Law on purpose!"  
"He would do that?" Sarah Jane asked, disturbed.  
"Of course!" Theta was pulling at the ends of his blonde curls. "Like I said, he's super jealous of how cool I am! He doesn't like me, and neither do any of the other Academy teachers! They'd all probably be glad to see me gone!"  
"What about your friends?" Rani asked. "You were on this trip with your friends-surely they'd stick up for you, yeah?"  
"I don't even know if they'd take into account the opinions of my friends," Theta started to sink out of his chair. "I don't even know if they'd care considering they all just-" he flung his arms out dramatically as he slid onto the floor, "abandoned me!"  
"Well, mate, sounds like you're screwed," Clyde said as he took a cookie off of the tray and broke it in half. Rani gave him a look. "Well, it's true! He sounds pretty screwed!"  
"Unless," Theta said, sitting up suddenly and nearly banging his head on the table. "Maybe I can contact them."  
"Your friends?" Rani asked.  
"Yes. It's not the first time one of us has been stuck in a jam on another planet before," Theta replied. "Don't tell anyone that though, that's super illegal." He put his finger to his mouth and made a 'shhh' sound.  
"Do you think Mr. Smith will be able to call his friends, Mum?" Luke asked Sarah Jane.  
She frowned. "I'm not sure. It seemed like couldn't even locate Gallifrey properly. Like I told Theta, Gallifrey is…complicated to get to." "Well, I think I can build something that might be able to help call my friends." Theta said, rubbing his chin.  
"What would that be?" Sarah Jane asked.  
"Well, for starters," Theta pulled out a fancy looking silver square. "No self respecting hip and cool Gallifreyan youth goes anywhere without their cellphone."  
"You've got to be kidding me," Rani said.  
"You can call them on that?" Luke asked. "Unless the signal not strong enough, because you're usually not meant to be away from Gallifrey?"  
"I don't think the signal would be strong enough, yeah," Theta said. "But maybe with the xylok, and some of the other trinkets in your attic-"  
"You think you can boost the signal," Luke said.  
Theta grinned. "Oh, yeah."  
"But what if you can't?" Clyde asked. "What if you can't call your friends? Will the Time Lords just leave you here to die? Or will the time lord space cops come to arrest you for breaking the First Law?"  
"Ah," Theta tugged at the collar of his robes nervously. "I'd rather not think about what happens if my friends don't come to pick me up in time, thank you. At best, they'd allow me to live out the rest of my days here, exiled and in disgrace."  
"And at worst?" Rani asked.  
Theta gulped. "Have you guys ever thought about being optimistic instead?"  
"Theta's right," Sarah Jane said. "Let's focus on the potential solution for now, rather than what would happen otherwise. That's better for everyone involved."  
"I agree with her," Theta said.  
"So," Sarah Jane tapped her hands on the table, "What do you need, and how long will it take you to finish making your device to call your friends?"  
"I think I saw a few things in the attic that would help, and if I'm able to rely on your xylok, 's, help, I think I should be golden. Well, better than golden, orange in fact. As for time," Theta wiggled his fingers. "The rest of the day at most, I should think."  
"Good then," Sarah Jane replied. "Do you want to get started right away?"  
"Um, actually," Theta gestured at the tea. "I'd like to drink some of that first. Oooh, and, ah," He grabbed two cookies from the tray. "Have some of these. I think we forgot about all this stuff when we were being too absorbed in my whole, uh, left-on-earth crisis."  
"Yes, I think you're quite right about that," Sarah Jane said, taking a cup of tea from the tray.  
"So," Rani said. "Are you going to tell us about Gallifrey, or what?"  
"What do you want to know?" Theta asked, nonchalantly dipping his cookie into his tea.  
"Everything."  
Theta smiled. 


	4. Chapter 4

Sarah Jane wasn't sure what to think of their newest arrival.  
On one hand, Theta seemed like a relatively nice young man. He was a bit dramatic, but even that had a certain charm to it. He also presented a unique opportunity to Sarah Jane; Theta was a window into what Gallifrey was like, a window into what the Doctor's formative years might've been like, living in that ancient and powerful civilization. And Theta was more than happy to answer the multitude of questions she, Rani, Luke and Clyde asked him, even if sometimes she found the answers to be a little too strange to be true, or even contradictory to what little information the Doctor had given her.  
Which brought her to the other hand…  
The Doctor had told her that everyone except himself had died. That Gallifrey was gone. Yet here Theta was, a perfectly happy and healthily looking boy, giving no indication of any sort of catastrophic war situation.  
She had even asked him, *So, even after all these eons, Gallifrey is still doing perfectly well?*  
*Of course,* he had replied. *Is something supposed to be wrong?*  
*No, no,* she had shaken her head, *I was just wondering how one civilization could last for so long.*  
*Oh,* he had smiled, *Yeah, that's kind of our thing. We aren't Time Lords for nothing.*  
So it seemed Theta came from a time of Gallifrey's past, a time where there was no war.  
A time, perhaps even, when the Doctor was still living out his childhood.  
Theta gave no indication of knowing anyone named 'The Doctor,' which she supposed made sense. She had always pretty much thought of 'Doctor' being a title the Doctor had assumed later in life, rather than the name he had been born with.  
However…Sarah Jane thought back to what the Doctor had said to her, so many years ago, the only time she had actually ever been on the surface of Gallifrey:  
*Who's that?*  
*Oh? That's my best enemy. He likes to be known as the Master.*  
If Theta truly was from the past, it was possible that his best friend, 'Koschei' or 'Kos,' as he had called him, really was in fact the teenage version of the man who grew up to be the Master.  
Unless there were plenty of other children on Gallifrey who liked to be known as 'The Master,' though Sarah Jane had a slight hunch that this was not the case.  
Theta's affiliation with the Master, even it was the younger, student one, was more than a bit concerning to Sarah Jane. That, along with the fact he supposedly had a reputation for causing trouble, gave her pause in truly trusting him.  
But, she argued with herself, being a troublemaker at school doesn't mean that you're evil. And even evil people, she conceded, were children once upon a time. Even if Theta's friend really was the Master, there was no reason that the Master could be a villain at this particular point in his life-that perhaps he turned evil after his schooling, or sometime later after that.  
Sarah Jane sighed. She supposed she would have to do what she always did; be on guard and alert, not giving trust in full but still giving the benefit of the doubt, investigate and be prepared for when things took a turn for the unexpected.  
Next to Sarah Jane, Theta was working on his machine to call his friends. It was an augmented version of his 'cellphone,' with about a dozen different color wires sprouting out of it connected to various pieces of alien devices in the attic, looking like a futuristic mobile. Currently he was fiddling with a part that looked comparable to a black roach, with two blinking pink lights for eyes.  
"C'mon, you stupid piece of rubbish," he muttered, staring at it like he was attempting to force his will onto it as he rewired its insides. "Just do what you're supposed to and-" There was a loud bleeping noising, and the pink lights flashed red, green, orange, and then finally blue.  
"Yes!" he cheered, excitedly flapping his hands. He flashed Sarah Jane a large toothy grin that reminded her of a certain 'teeth and curls', before setting the bug like device down and turning to the silver square in the center of it all, his 'cellphone.' He reached and tapped on it a few times, clicking onto virtual options Sarah Jane couldn't exactly see.  
"Are you sure this is going to work?" she asked him.  
"It should," he replied. "I rewired everything to the t, improved the data boards to new capacities, upgraded the mechanics by scores, made the connectors over a thousand times more efficient and connector-y, and enhanced the signal boosters so much that this thing should be able to broadcast to pretty much anywhere." He looked quite proud of himself, standing tall with his arms crossed, a smug expression on his face. "All that's left is to make the call itself."  
"Then let's make that call," Sarah Jane replied.  
Theta bent over the table, his finger hovered over the silver screen. He glanced back at her, suddenly looking hesitant, so she gave him a nod and an encouraging smile. He smiled back and clicked to make the call.  
Theta's creation whirred to life, a dozen different tones of buzzes and beeps filling the air. He stared at it expectantly, hands fluttering at his sides each time part of the device made a noise and flashed its lights. It was not long before there seemed to be an entire symphony of different color lights and sounds that flooded the room. In the middle of the chaos Theta's cellphone vibrated on the table, and she could see it flash a white-orange color.  
"It's working!" Theta shouted over the noise. "It's calling-it's actually calling them-I-"  
The screen flashed red, and suddenly there was a loud screeching sound.  
Sarah Jane saw Theta's eyes go wide. "Wha-"  
There was a loud pop as wires suddenly came loose from parts of the machine, and a brown smoke began to fill the air. "No," Theta whispered.  
"What's going on?" Sarah Jane was already out of her chair.  
"No," Theta repeated louder, rushing forward. "No no no no!" "Theta?" Sarah Jane asked, coughing and attempting to wave the smoke away from her face.  
"I can fix this!" He yelled over the commotion, as the device let out more sounds of a dying animal. "I can fix this! I can fix-" There was a loud buzzing noise as she saw something flash in the smoke, and heard him yelp.  
"Are you alright?!" "I'm fine!" He insisted. There was another loud buzzing noise, and then the sound of something sparking. "Everything's fine!"  
Sarah Jane grabbed a towel and began to wave away the smoke from the area as the sounds continued; gradually, there became few and farther noises, and as the smoke cleared Sarah Jane could see Theta at the table, staring at the wreckage on the table.  
Everything was covered in grayish brownish ash. Parts of the wires that had popped off seemed to be melted, as well as portions of the different mechanical parts. The black roach like piece Theta had been fiddling with earlier had become deformed into a lumpy, pancake-esque type shape.  
"I really thought," Theta said, his hands limp at his sides, "that this was going to work." He reached out over the table and Sarah Jane could see his arm was shaking. His hand hovered over his cellphone, now covered in ash, and for a moment she thought he was going to knock everything off the table, the way his face contorted with anger and disgust. But he simply snatched it up with a flash and shoved it back into the pockets of his robes, not caring about the small wires that stuck out at the edge.  
He continued to stare at the mess, and Sarah Jane could see how his eyes were lined with red primed for tears, his mouth pinched together in a tight line, his face flushed. He took a breath and choked it down, and when she opened her mouth to ask if he was okay, he simply put a hand up, silencing her.  
He really had believed that his device was going to work. He had been counting on it to work. He needed it to work.  
"I-I wish Drax was here," he stuttered out.  
"Drax?" Sarah Jane asked.  
"My friend," Theta sniffed, rubbing his nose with his sleeve. "He's-he's really good at mechanical things. Drax would've known how to make it work." His face scrunched up as a few tears dribbled down his cheek. "I guess Tutor Borusa's right after all. I really am incompetent when it comes to things that matter."  
"Theta," Sarah Jane said, firmly as she could. "You're *not* incompetent."  
Theta covered his face with his hands. "I would've believed that if it actually worked."  
"But it *did* work," Sarah Jane replied. "It started to call."  
"Started to call," Theta said. "That doesn't mean it called-called. Also, it kind of blew up."  
"I noticed," Sarah Jane replied, and Theta's lips twitched into something like a smile.  
"It'd be kind of hard not to notice," Theta sniffed and wiped his face with his sleeve. "Well, there goes my cool Time Lord composure."  
"I don't think anyone can be composed all the time," Sarah Jane said gently, "not even Time Lords."  
"Yeah," Theta said, "you're right about that."  
"Are you sure your friends won't notice your absence?" Sarah Jane asked.  
"Well…" Theta picked at his cuticles, which were still covered in grayish brown ash. "I suppose they might notice if I managed to ring them at least once. And even if I didn't…" Theta looked down at the floor. "Kos will come looking for me. If no one else does, at least. He might get a kick out of me being stuck here, but he wouldn't want me to get expelled."  
Sarah Jane frowned. "Why would he get a kick out of it?"  
Theta shrugged. "I dunno, because it's funny? I'd get a kick out of being here, too, if I wasn't worried about Borusa being involved in some conspiracy to get me expelled." Theta sighed. "Kos will come for me. We're like two peas in a pod, me and him. We have a pact."  
"A pact?" Sarah Jane felt a surge of curiosity. "What sort of pact?"  
"That we were gonna see every star in the universe. Together I mean," Theta replied. "We can't exactly do that if I'm stuck in exile on Earth."  
"Oh," Sarah Jane said, and then yawned, despite feeling the burning of a million more questions and speculations in her head. "It's late," she said, and then noticing the clock, "It's half past one."  
"I don't need to sleep," Theta said. "I only need sleep every three days, not everyday."  
"When was the last time you slept?" Sarah Jane asked him.  
"Two days ago," he replied.  
"Then maybe it would be nice to take a good nap instead," Sarah Jane suggested.  
"Do you want me to go to sleep so you don't have to worry about me creeping in your attic and touching your stuff while you're asleep?" Theta asked. "Because if that's the case I'll only creep and touch your stuff while you're awake and not looking, I promise."  
"That's nice of you to say so," Sarah Jane said. "Though I'd prefer if you didn't 'creep and touch my stuff' at all, actually. But I suggested sleep because I think sleep might help refresh our brains so that we can think of a different way to help you get back to Gallifrey."  
"I guess…I guess you're right," Theta agreed. "But I'm not sure of any other ways to get back to Gallifrey."  
"If it comes down to it," Sarah Jane said, hesitant, "I…might know some other people who could help."  
"Really?" Theta asked, brightening up considerably at this.  
"Yes, but…" Sarah Jane bit the inside of her cheek. "I don't exactly trust them at all, really, and this is a rather sensitive issue…"  
"Are they evil?" Theta asked.  
"Not exactly."  
"Are they dangerous?" Theta asked.  
"Quite."  
"Nice," Theta grinned. Sarah Jane raised an eyebrow.  
"What?" Theta said. "Danger can be fun sometimes!"  
"I'm not so sure about that," Sarah Jane replied, though internally, a part of her was inclined to agree.  
"You're just saying that to sound responsible," Theta said. "Otherwise you wouldn't be involved with aliens."  
"How and why I became involved with aliens is a story for a different time," Sarah Jane responded, putting her hand over her mouth as she yawned again. "For now, it's time for sleep. I'm not exactly sure where to put you, but if you don't mind the couch-"  
"I can take the couch," Theta said.  
"Good." Sarah Jane gestured to the table. "Now, let's get this cleaned up."  
Sarah Jane yearned to ask more questions about Theta, specifically about his friendship with the person who may-or-may not be the child version of the Doctor's 'best enemy,' and the specifics of their 'pact.' She wondered whether the Master had a sidekick, a childhood best friend who seemed to think the world of him. She wondered if Theta really did know a child version of the Doctor, and she just didn't know it.  
Though Theta himself did remind her somewhat of the Doctor…  
But no. She could've laughed. It couldn't have been that. The chances of Theta being the younger version of the Doctor were astronomically small. Besides, even if he was (which he almost certainly wasn't), this version of him wouldn't know about her at all. He wasn't even graduated from school, for Pete's sake.  
As soon as they were finished cleaning, Theta rushed to curl up on the couch.  
"You don't have to get me any blankets or anything," Theta said. "It's quite warm in here. And you don't need to tuck me in like you would for your human child, I'm too old for that."  
"Tuck you in like Luke?" Sarah Jane asked. "Luke's too old to be tucked in."  
"Really?" Theta asked. "He's very young. Younger than Rani or Clyde."  
"Regardless, I don't think he wants me to tuck him in," Sarah Jane replied. "Goodnight, Theta."  
"Goodnight, Sarah," he replied.  
"Sarah Jane," she corrected almost automatically. Then added, "That's what people usually call me."  
"Oh," Theta said. "In that case, goodnight, Sarah Jane."  
"Goodnight," she said again, and turned to walk out of the room before pausing sharply at the doorway.  
"Are you alright?" Theta asked from the couch.  
"Yes, I-I almost tripped," she said. "Goodnight." And she quickly walked out of the room.  
She had tripped, mentally, into a figurative ditch of a dark pondering.  
Sarah Jane had wondered whether this bright young boy would grow up to fight in the horrible war the Doctor had mentioned, the one that had caused the complete destruction of Gallifrey.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Unlike his day, Theta's dream started off rather boring.  
He was in the lab, working on some mundane classwork. Well, he was supposed to be working on classwork, but really he was mixing together something that would end up as an small gaseous explosion or base-sentient purple slime. Or both. Personally, he was hoping for the slime, but he would take the gaseous explosion over being bored out of his mind.  
"Your alkaline levels are very off from where they should be, but I expect you already know that," a voice said to his left.  
Theta turned. "Koschei!"  
"Slackoff," he replied, picking up a vial and attempting to pour it back into Theta's mixture. "You know, this should be quick classwork, even for you."  
"Shut up, nerd," Theta said. And then, "You're beard's back! How did that happen?"  
Koschei gave him a look. "You realize that you just told me to shut up and then asked me a question, right?"  
"Shut up and then start talking, nerd," Theta said.  
"My beard is back because we're in a lucid dream, idiot," Koschei replied.  
"Oh," Theta said. "That's right. I'm still stuck back on earth." His eyes widened. "Kos! You have to help me! I'm stuck on earth!"  
But Koschei didn't seem to be listening. He was flipping through the course workbook with a look of distaste. "You didn't even have the sense to dream up the complete assignments. These all start in normal sentences but then go off into strings of meaningless words."  
"Are they not meant to do that?" Theta asked. "Because that's how they look to me on most days. Or pretty much all days."  
"If you're going to have a boring-arse dream, you might as well dream it up in correct detail," Koschei told him.  
"It's not my fault that this is my dream!"  
Koschei stared at him. "You…you do know what the meaning of 'lucid dream,' is, right?"  
Theta opened his mouth, but before he say anything, Koschei huffed, "Look, I'll show you," and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him away from the lab table.  
"Kos?" Theta asked frantically, "Kos? Where are we going?" The shapes of the lab, the tables full of chemicals and fellow classmates, had started to fade into shadows. "Why is everything turned dark?"  
"You'll find out," was his enigmatic reply.  
"Kos, I don't like this," Theta said, his free arm flailing in panic as the everything turned to almost complete darkness. "You know I'm afraid of the-"  
A bright spotlight shined overhead, the light blasting into Theta's eyes. He yelped, covering them with his free hand.  
"Seriously, Kos, what in Rassilon's good *and* bad name-"  
"Open your eyes, you dork."  
Theta carefully unshielded his eyes, blinking them open. Astonished, he looked around. They were standing on the well lit polished wood floor of a fancy ballroom, and where the light was dimmer Theta could make out clothed tables with fancily dressed silhouettes sitting at them.  
Theta looked back at Koschei, eyes as big as dinner plates. He was wearing the fanciest dress robes Theta had ever seen, elegant and black with swirling golden Gallifreyan calligraphy stitched onto the collar.  
"You're in dress robes," Theta whispered.  
Koschei gave him an unimpressed look. "No, you're in dress robes." Theta looked down. He looked to find himself wearing the colors of the sunset. "You're right," he gasped. "We're both in dress robes."  
Koschei rolled his eyes. "Dance with me," he said.  
"W-what?"  
Koschei reached to grab his other hand, but Theta pulled it back.  
"Dance with me," Kos insisted. "We're on the dance floor, and if we don't, we'll look stupid."  
"I thought you said this was a dream," Theta replied. "Those people aren't real."  
Koschei muttered something under his breath.  
"What was that?" "I said dance with me anyway, moron," Koschei replied, glancing away. "You're 'Lord President of the Dance Floor', aren't you?"  
"Ooooooh," Theta said. "Kos is shhhyyyyy."  
"The real person who's shy is the one stalling for time," Koschei said.  
"What? Me? Shy? Stall for time? I have never, sir! Your accusations offend me!"  
"Theta," Koschei said, and Theta stared into Koschei's deep brown eyes, like pools of the richest chocolate he'd ever seen in his life. "Dance with me," he insisted, holding out his hand. "Please."  
Theta felt his face go warm. "Are you-uh-are you hypnotizing me?"  
"Just a little."  
"Well, okay then," Theta said, taking his hand, and they began to waltz around the ballroom floor.  
"So is this what you dream about?" Theta asked. "Dancing with handsome blondes that are also your best mate?" "No, this is what *you* dream about," Kos said, "Dancing with handsome bearded brunettes that are also your best mate. We're in *your* hopelessly romantic subconscious."  
"'Hopelessly romantic'?!" Theta asked, offended. "It's tastefully fancy!"  
"More like ridiculously sappy," Kos replied. "Rassilon, Thete, I knew you had a saccharine side, but this is beyond saccharine."  
"Oh, yeah?" Theta said. "Then I'd like to see what's in *your* subconscious. Probably sitting in a diamond palace on a golden throne being waited on and praised by a bunch of pretty boys."  
"Eh, you're not that far off," Koschei admitted, giving Theta a small spin. "Though I only have one pretty boy." Theta scoffed. "Who, yourself?" "No," Koschei dipped him, his face so close to Theta's, that when he talked into his ear Theta could feel his warm breath and the stray tips of his whiskers.  
"You, you complete and utter sugary fool."  
Theta snorted. "S-so *romantic*." He tried not to think how his voice sounded a few notes higher than it should've been. Or how his face felt a little too warm.  
Koschei smirked. "You sound flustered."  
"Flustered?" Theta tried for a confident laugh, but it came out like nervous squeaks. "I never get flustered. I'm Theta Sigma, leading expert on being ice cold. I'm as cool as a cucumber. I'm cooler than a cucumber. You're the one who's flustered, with your stupid face and your stupid lips-"  
"What about my lips?" Koschei asked, looking very amused.  
"Nothing!" Theta said quickly, before remembering he was supposed to be acting cool. "I mean, uh, who said anything about lips? You like *my* lips, Koschei? Because that'd be pretty cute. I mean, cool. I make sure to moisturize daily."  
"You're rambling, idiot," Koschei replied. "Look, you can't fool me. Clearly, you're finding this whole affair rather erotic."  
"Erotic?!" Theta exclaimed. "If this is your version of erotic, then I'm terrified for the fate of your future lovers. You ought to give them a warning or something. Multiple warnings, in fact-hey!" Koschei had given him a rather wide spin and then brought him so close that their chests were touching. "I nearly spun myself out of my own subconscious with that!"  
"Theta," Koschei purred, really and truly *purred* so that Theta could hear the rumbling of his chest, and when Theta stared into his dark eyes he felt like was going to get swallowed up in the vortex of them.  
*No no no,* Theta scolded himself, *don't look at the eyes. The eyes are too pretty. Look at his stupid goatee instead. Goatees aren't attractive at all. Though it doesn't look terrible on Koschei…and his stupid beard was ever so close to his stupid nicely shaped lips…Rassilon and Omega, help me…*  
Theta came to the sudden realization that it wasn't just his chest that was touching Koschei. His practically everything was touching Koschei, and his face was so close to Koschei's that their lips were almost ready to touch.  
"Theta," Koschei said softly, "What am I doing?"  
"Seducing me," Theta replied.  
"Oh," Koschei said, pressing his soft pink lips onto Theta's, making his mind explode in colors for a few blissful moments.  
And then Koschei blinked. And pulled back.  
"Wait, Theta, *what* am I doing?"  
"Well, we were about to share a nice long kiss, and then you decided to have an existential crisis," Theta said. "Do you do this to everyone you snog, or just me?"  
"No, I.." Koschei rubbed his eyes. "Theta, how did I…what's going on? Why are we here? And why are you actually dressed nicely for once?"  
"I'm always dressed nicely!" Theta insisted. He was starting to feel a bit miffed. "And why do you sound so confused? You literally dragged me to my subconscious, slow danced with me, flirted atrociously with me, and then went to kiss me! You strangely bearded seductress!"  
"Are you sure?" Koschei asked, squinting at him. "I…everything's quite hazy on my end. I-wait, you're not at the Academy, are you?"  
"No, that's what I tried to tell you!" Theta was feeling both irritated and confused, which really only made him more irritated. "I'm stuck back on Sol III-on Earth! You all went with Borusa and abandoned me!"  
"Theta, something's-something's wrong," Koschei looked disturbed. "As we were leaving I think-I think we noticed you were gone-Ushas tried to say something-"  
"Well, at least Ushas cares about me."  
"But there was this horrible ringing noise," Koschei continued. "In all our heads, it was like-and then somehow we got back to Gallifrey, and everything was fine-this horrible, horrible noise, like ringing, or drumming-It was just like drumming in my head."  
"That's what you get for having overzealous band practices."  
"No, Theta, this isn't funny." Koschei grabbed him by the shoulders. "Something's wrong. I think something's messing with us."  
Theta frowned. "What possibly would want to mess with us?"  
"Something powerful enough and smart enough to know when to take advantage of a 'field trip' of Gallifreyan academy students to earth." Koschei stroked his beard in thought. "Probably something powerful enough to have altered Academy officials' minds enough to allow you and the rest of the Deca to visit Sol III in the first place. Like an Eternal or some other type of powerful immortal entity."  
"So, what, some Eternal wants to watch what happens when you leave a time tot on earth?" Theta asked. "Then why me out of all of us? Ushas would probably start experimenting on everyone in boredom. Rassilon knows you'd probably start a cult worshiping you or some nonsense, and besides that, I'm not even half as funny as you. Mortimus would probably cause a conspiracy-honestly, *any* of you would be *much* more entertaining than boring little Theta Sigma, becoming a hermit and making a mess of earthling customs."  
Koschei scowled. "Well, that's the question, isn't it? Why would they leave you here? Unless they want to-ah!" He clutched the sides of his head.  
"What is it?!"  
"The ringing," Koschei gasped, "The drumming-it's started again. Someone doesn't want us talking." He doubled over. "It *hurts*, Theta!"  
"What-what should I do?!"  
"Well," Koschei grunted. "First of all, stop standing over there flailing like an *idiot*." "You're the one who started all of this!" Theta said, quickly kneeling down next to him. "You dragged me to this place, kissed me, and you probably won't even take me out on a date! Here, let me help you!" He placed a hand to the other boy's forehead, lending him mental strength. Immediately he felt a sort of throbbing sensation, deep within his hand, and then slowly crawling up his arm like an unwelcome tentacle.  
"Do you feel it," Koschei whispered. "The awful noise."  
"Yeah," Theta said, "It feels like the time Glospin twisted my arm back into a higher dimension, telling me he hoped the humanoid meat 'got slopped off into vortex fodder'."  
"Some of your cousins are real pricks," Koschei groaned. He took a deep breathe and sighed. "The noise seems to have gotten quieter for now. And if you really want, I'll take you out for a date. At that one restaurant-the one with the small fancy appetizers that are way too overpriced."  
"Really?" Theta asked, brightening up considerably.  
"Yeah, you idiot," Koschei huffed. "I'd like to seduce you and actually remember it properly-"  
A loud, agonizing blast echoed across the room as Theta was forcibly blown back from where he had been kneeling. The back of his head hit the floor with a sharp pain, making him yelp.  
"Kos!" He yelled, scrambling to sit up, his entire body aching.  
"Theta!" He saw Koschei in a similar position, a hand to his head. "I have to go!"  
"What?!"  
"Someone doesn't want us talking!" Koschei repeated. "We have to wake up before they blast us again or worse!"  
Theta swallowed hard. "But-but-"  
"I'll find you," Koschei said. "I promise, I'll find your stupid arse before you manage to ruin the planet!"  
"Thanks for the reassurance!" Theta yelled back. He could feel a slight wetness sting his eyes. *Not the tears again.* "Remember, you owe me a date, you superiority-complexed nerd!"  
"I'll try to save the date!" Koschei yelled back. "Now, do us both a favor, and WAKE UP!"  
The world around Theta shook and crumbled, and he watched as the floor fell beneath him. Koschei's form flickered in and out of existence along with the rest of the ballroom, and Theta tried to call out to him, desperate to have the last word, or at least a last word.  
But Koschei, the ballroom, and the light soon vanished.  
And Theta, plunged into darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey Everyone! I know I said I'd try to update more last summer, and I really was planning to...until I got distracted that is, whoops. I've had a lot of the next chapter written up for a while, and I was planning to post one big massive chapter when I completed everything I wanted to write for it. However, I've decided that it's probably just post what I already have, and then hopefully I won't procrastinate another summer to post Chapter 6.**

 **Shout out to those two reviewers who made my day with their compliments - this is for you! I hope you like it. (:**

The first thing he noticed was the smell of eggs.  
It was…slightly comforting.  
The second thing he noticed, as he blinked his eyes open, was his position on the couch. Or rather, his not position on the couch, as he had fallen onto the floor.  
Theta scrambled up with a yelp, doing a fair bit of flailing and turning around.  
"What's gotten into you?" A voice asked, causing him to yelp, jump, and do a spin, fists raised.  
It was then he noticed the third thing-or, rather, earthling. Rani was standing behind the couch, looking quite confused.  
"What did you do that for?" Theta asked her, his body still jittering.  
"Do what for?" Rani frowned. "I just asked you a question."  
"You let me sleep on the floor!" Theta gestured dramatically.  
"Is the carpet not good enough for you Time Lords?" Rani asked him, rolling her eyes.  
"No!" Theta did some more exaggerated flailing. "I mean, yes! I mean-it's not about the floor being too good, how could you have practically left me to get eaten by Zagreus?"  
"Zagreus?"  
"Yeah, Zagreus!" Theta ran his hands through his hair, agitated. "You know, the horror of anti time? Destroyer of the world? 'Sits inside your head, lives among the dead, sees you in bed, and /eats you when you're sleeping/?!'"  
Rani narrowed her eyes. "So he's like…the boogeyman? You're afraid of the boogeyman coming to get you while you're asleep?"  
"He's beyond any nightmare you humans could dream of, that's for sure!" He only got more frustrated with Rani as she smirked. "What's so funny?"  
She shook her head. "The boogeyman isn't real, silly. It's all made up stories. It's stuff little kids are afraid of."  
"Yeah, well maybe they're right to be afraid!" Theta crossed his arms, defiant. "Zagreus is definitely real."  
"And you think he'd only come for you if you're not on the floor?" Rani raised an eyebrow. "If he's really all that, I don't think sleeping on the couch will save you."  
"Yeah, well," Theta huffed, "I had an experience when I was younger that makes me think he's real. And no, I /won't/ talk about it, because you'll just laugh at me."  
"Did you see a shadow in the dark?" Rani asked him.  
"It wasn't like that," Theta said, "It was….someone…grabbed me, by the ankle one night." Rani tilted her head in curiosity, but Theta's desire to tell the story had died a quick death. "Don't-look- never mind, I don't want to talk about it," Theta waved his hand. "What are you doing here, anyways? This isn't your house."  
"I just came to see how you were doing before Luke, Clyde and I went to school," Rani replied. "Did you get your device working to call your friends?" "No," Theta replied sourly, sticking his lip far out into a pout and glaring. "It exploded."  
"Oh." Rani glanced away, awkward. "I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you. Maybe there's another way-"  
"I did get to talk to Kos, though," Theta interrupted her, brightening up considerably. "In my dreams."  
Rani gave him a look of incredulousness that rivaled that of all his previous teachers, even Tutor Borusa.  
"What?" Theta asked her.  
"You talked to him in your /dreams/," Rani repeated, starting him down.  
"Yeah," Theta nodded.  
"So you didn't actually talk to him," Rani said slowly. "You just had a dream about him."  
"No, no, it was definitely him," Theta replied. "I could tell-oh. I get it. You humans aren't telepathic."  
"You're saying you can telepathically communicate with him even though he's all the way on Gallifrey?" Rani asked him.  
"Well-" His answer was interrupted by the sound of his stomach grumbling. "Um, can I explain this over breakfast? I'm kind of starving of here."  
"Alright," Rani said, still eyeing him skeptically. "But your explanation better be good."  
"Hopefully," Theta grinned.

Rani stared him down from across the kitchen table as he inhaled a plate of scrambled eggs and toast.  
"Mmmm," he said, licking the last bits of egg from his fork, "Absolutely delicious. Thank you, Sarah Jane."  
"You're quite welcome, Theta," Sarah Jane said. She was seated to the right of him, shuffling through a few folders and rearranging the order of their contents.  
"You can explain how you talked to Kos now," Rani said bluntly.  
"You talked to Kos?" Sarah Jane looked up sharply at him.  
"He claims he astral projected all the way to Gallifrey and talked to his friend in his dreams," Rani said.  
"I didn't say anything about astral projection!" Theta exclaimed. "That would been really cool, but I just used plain ol' telepathy."  
"Telepathy?" Sarah Jane asked, looking at him curiously. "You were able to telepathically communicate all the way from Gallifrey? Then why didn't you just do that in the first place, instead of going all that trouble to build your machine?"  
"I didn't know that I could," Theta replied, shrugging. "I guess even though I'm so far away, I haven't been fully disconnected from the hive mind."  
"The hive mind?" Rani and Sarah Jane asked, simultaneously.  
"Gallifrey doesn't have a hive mind," Sarah Jane said.  
"Yes, it does," Theta replied. "Or at least, not in the way you're thinking."  
"A hive mind is when an entire species shares one brain," Rani said, "And you're an /individual/ with your own brain, yeah? Unless all the Time lords act like you."  
Theta snorted. "Sep, no."  
"So then how can you be part of a hive mind?" She questioned.  
"Look, it's not that we all share one brain, so we're not -technically- a hive mind," Theta started out, unsure of how to explain, "But we're a telepathic people. We're individuals, sure, but we're always mentally connected in some way- we have a planet-wide telepathic network."  
"Like a radio network," Sarah Jane suggested. "Your brains are all receiving each other's signals."  
"Yeah, kinda!" Theta said. "We constantly communicate telepathically as well as verbally. Everyone's affected by each other's mental signals, even if it's just a little. That's why it was so weird when they all left me-it was like complete silence in that part of my mind. A silence like one I've never had to endure before." Theta shuddered. "It was creepy. Still is, in fact. But I guess I'm not completely cut off, after all. I…still don't really know how I managed to talk to him, though." "What did Kos say?" Sarah Jane asked him.  
"Weeeellllllll," Theta played with his fork idly, tapping the tines against the empty plate. "We kinda had a romantic sequence in which we kissed and he promised he'd take me out on a date, so we might be boyfriends now? I'm not sure you can be considered boyfriends when you haven't even officially been on a date. Though agreeing to go on a date does mean we're mutually attracted to each other, so I guess we're like, trial boyfriends. Not boyfriends on trial, but our relationship is in trial mode. It's the boyfriendship before the real boyfriendship begins. The pre-boyfriending boyfriending, as it were."  
Rani stared at him, looking like he'd just bit a period in half and now had bits of time stuck all over his mouth and in his teeth. She opened her mouth to speak. "The-"  
"And don't say you were right!" Theta pointed his fork at her accusingly. She leaned away from him, taken aback. "I know you said I had a crush on him, and it's true, because Koschei is, damn him, hotter than the twin suns combined, but when I admit to having a crush on him it's not as embarrassing, and when you say it it makes me feel silly. Also, I don't like it when people say 'I told you so,' because it makes me feel stupid."  
Rani continued to stare at him, completely flabbergasted. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but all forms of verbal speech had fled from her body, and so she was only left with the ability to look at Theta like he had eaten his chair.  
"Theta," Sarah Jane said slowly, and Theta could feel from the sound of her words she was trying to be patient with him, desperately patient, "Is there anything else that Kos told you? Does he know you're stranded on earth?"  
"Oh, yeah," Theta said. "We've come to the conclusion that one of the Eternals is most likely intentionally screwing me over."  
"Eternals?"  
"They're like, ancient immortal beings with great and terrible power who like to mess with people for fun." Theta wrinkled his nose. "They're like the deities from some of your old myths, I should think. Basically, I'm damned."  
"But you had to tell us about your boyfriend first," Rani's verbal communication had returned to scorn him.  
"Well, yes," Theta said thoughtfully, "It's always nice to start with the good news."  
"Sarah Jane?" Rani asked.  
Theta looked and saw Sarah Jane's face screwed up in furious thought, staring at the papers on the table as to burn a hole in them with her mind.  
"Yes," she replied, "Well, Theta, are you sure that it's these Eternals that are causing this? Does it have to be them, or could it be any being with great enough power?" "I mean," Theta ran his fingers the length of the table. "I guess it doesn't have to be the Eternals. As long as someone has enough power to confuse and manipulate a bunch of Timelords, students and Academy teachers, they could be the cause of my stranding. The Eternals are the most obvious ones, though. They like messing with people, and they've got the power to do it."  
Sarah Jane mumbled something under her breath.  
"What is it, Sarah Jane?" Rani asked her.  
"Trickster," Sarah Jane repeated.  
"Trickster?" Theta asked. "Are you referring to the legend of the Pantheon of Discord? No, don't tell me-you've met them?"  
"The Trickster seems to like to involve himself in my life, yes," Sarah Jane said, sighing. "Particularly by tricking myself and others into preventing events where we save the world from happening."  
"He feeds off of the massive amounts of chaos that would occur if you didn't exist," Theta concluded. "But…doesn't the Trickster need other people to do his bidding? Willing people, I mean."  
"Yes, that certainly is part of it," Sarah Jane replied. "And if it is indeed the Trickster, then it's no mistake for Rani to have run into you when she did."  
"But why would the Trickster bring Theta here, to Bannerman Road?" Rani asked. "What's so important about Theta?"  
"Excuse you," Theta muttered.  
"I'm not trying to be offensive!" Rani huffed. "I just don't understand why the Trickster would want to bring some Timelord kid all the way here. Or why anyone would, for that matter."  
"Well, if it was planned for me to meet Sarah Jane, then it must be because I'm important to her timeline somehow," Theta said. He resisted the urge to snap back at her and prove his worth. "For whatever reason…future or past." He glanced away. "I'm some cause of something important involving her, and maybe even you too, Rani, and Clyde and Luke. I can't imagine it's something I've already done, because there would be little point in stranding me now. No, it has to be something I am going to do."  
Theta's fingers had curled into fists again, glaring at the floor. One of his legs swung back and forth underneath the table, hitting the front leg of his chair with a thumping, ominous rhythm.  
"I might just be someone very important," Theta said. He grinned, a humorless grimace. "For better or for worse."  
"We can't rule out any possibilities," Sarah Jane said quietly, and he looked over at her. She was staring at him with that intense curiosity again, her human mind chewing on a million questions that he could see pressed to the windows of her eyes. He was conscious of the thread that extended between them again, the mismatching of their respective timelines. A thin line he could've plucked between them like a string that would've sung out into the void of eternity. He could feel it all around him, the constructions of time and space, the breathing lungs and fragile human hearts, their life spans like slivers on blades of grass blowing in the wind. Time pinched and pulled around him, and he could feel it in his body beyond the mere three dimensions his earthling allies experienced. Sarah Jane stared at him with a question that he knew he could not answer, out of hesitancy of being wrong, out of fear of being right:  
/Who am I to you?/  
His existence shuddered and his body let out a sigh, and Theta looked down to the floor again. He could feel Rani's stare on him too, going between him and Sarah Jane and attempting to work out their connection, and the connection between all of them and the universe at large.  
Their verbal silence was replaced by an internal mental discussion, each happening within themselves. Quiet settled into Theta's bones, cold and foreboding and full of what he could not or did not have the answer to.  
"Uhh," a voice cleared their throat. "Are you guys in a trance or something? Luke sent me inside to go check out why you were taking so long. At this rate, we're going to be late for school."  
Like that, the spell upon the three of them was broken. Theta looked up to find Clyde standing in the open doorway of the kitchen. He looked mildly freaked out by their strange silence.  
"School?" Theta squinted. "Who has time for that nonsense?"  
"Those of us who don't want to get punished for being tardy," Rani said. She blinked several times, before moving to get out of her chair and pushing it in. She grabbed her bag from under the table and swung it over her shoulders. "I'm ready to go whenever you are."  
"Well," Sarah Jane said. She packed her folders neatly into a bag beside her. "I better be off too, or I'm going to be late for my interview."  
"Who're you interviewing, Sarah Jane?" Rani asked.  
"A local blood drive," she replied. "They've recently been accused off fraud, as a significant portion of the blood they've collected seems to have simply disappeared. It's rumored they might be part of a black market operation selling blood."  
"Blood smugglers." Theta shivered. "Wait-if Rani, Clyde, and Luke are going to school, and you're going to be interviewing, then where do I go? Am I just supposed to be stuck in the house all day?"  
"You're right," Sarah Jane said. "We can't leave you here unsupervised."  
"Obviously," Rani added. Theta stuck his tongue out at her, which she returned.  
"We could bring him to school with us, could say he's Luke's cousin whose come to visit, and he could shadow us around for the day."  
"Because he /totally/ looks like he would be Luke's cousin," Clyde said.  
"I didn't say first cousin!" Rani replied.  
"Definitely not a first cousin," Clyde agreed. "Distant cousin five times removed, maybe."  
"You're sure this is allowed, Rani?" Sarah Jane asked her.  
Rani nodded.  
"Uh, two things," Clyde said. "One, if Theta's Luke's cousin, then he can shadow Luke for the day. I don't need to be babysitting an alien the entire day."  
"Babysitting?" Theta made a face. "I'm not a tot, Clyde. Besides, I'm a total bad boy. I'll be sure to improve your reputation with all the other cool kids."  
Clyde snorted in response. "Uh, maybe on your home planet, mate, but not here. Oh, and two, I don't think he can go wearing that." He pointed at Theta's robes.  
"We could just tell my dad that that's how people dress from where Theta's from," Rani said, half joking. Clyde just shook his head.  
"I think Clyde's right," Sarah Jane said. She glanced at Theta. "I think some of Luke's clothes would fit you alright. I hope he doesn't mind, but I think he'll understand. We can go buy you some actual clothes later today. Do you mind….?"  
"Nah," Theta shook his head. "Besides, these old robes are still full of dust and soot from my failed experiment yesterday."  
Sarah Jane nodded at Rani and Clyde. "You two go outside and join Luke. This should only take a few minutes.

Theta emerged exactly seven minutes later from the house, walking down the path of Sarah Jane's driveway. He spotted Luke, Rani, and Clyde all across the street, all standing around talking to an older man Theta guessed might've been Rani's father. He ran across the street to join them.  
"Hello!" Theta greeted them heartily. The three of them, included Rani's maybe-father, turned to stare at him.  
"It's a lovely morning we're having here," Theta continued on in the silence that surrounded him. "The sun is shining, the sky is rather blue, and there looks to be about 7.85% cloud coverage-my favorite percentage of cloud coverage. It's also relatively mild, with a nice breeze going. What a perfect day."  
After a few beats of silence, the man seemed to realize Theta's presence and extended his hand to Theta, giving him a polite smile. "You must be the cousin Luke was telling me about just now," he replied. "I'm Haresh Chandra, Rani's father and Headmaster at their school."  
"Oh, Headmaster!" Theta took his hand and shook it. "Hello! Nice to meet you! I'm related to Luke!"  
"Yes," replied, shaking Theta's hand before rubbing at the bridge of his nose and his temples. "I'm sorry, it took me a few moments to notice you; my eyesight got a little blurry. I must be a bit out of it today."  
"Do you want to stay home today and rest?" Rani asked him.  
"No, no, I was fine a little while ago; this is probably nothing." continued, "So Theta, I heard you're going to be joining us for the day and shadowing around Luke."  
"Yes, I will literally become Luke's shadow and stalk him for the entire day," Theta replied.  
nodded. "I run a tight ship at this school, just so you know."  
Theta could hear Rani groaning quietly.  
"I expect, as a guest at our school, however, you won't be interested in causing any trouble," finished.  
"I have never caused a day of trouble in my life," Theta replied. Rani stifled a snort.  
"We'd better be off to school, ," Luke said. "It's getting late."  
nodded. "Yes, yes." He rubbed the bridge of his nose again. "I'll see you all at school."  
"Yeah, see ya," Clyde said waving, walking away. "Wouldn't want to be ya," Clyde muttered.  
Rani, Luke, and Theta walked to join him.  
"So…." Theta said. "I think that went pretty well, considering every other encounter I've ever had with any type of school authority."  
"Mister Chandra was having a hard time looking at you directly," Luke noted.  
"It's probably the perception filter," Theta admitted.  
"The what?" Clyde asked.  
"He's wearing something that misdirects people's perception of him," Luke replied. "So that people don't notice him as much."  
"Is that what the skirt's for, mate?" Clyde asked.  
"No," Theta replied, "The perception filter is on a chain around my neck. I'm wearing a skirt because it feels comfortable. Much better than," Theta gagged, "those drab pants Sarah Jane first offered for me to wear."  
"I thought you were supposed to wear Luke's clothes," Rani said.  
"He is wearing my clothes," Luke said, "The jacket, shirt and tie are mine."  
"But a dark green and gold patterned patterned skirt with your bright red stockings?" Rani asked.  
"Yeah, so?" Theta asked.  
"The bottom of you looks like Christmas or something, mate," Clyde muttered.  
"Well, isn't that supposed to be a cheerful time for a lot of you humans?" Theta asked. "Don't hate the color clash. You know you want color clash, secretly. You're just not bold enough to try it out."  
"Or, some of us actually like matching clothes," Rani said.  
"Nah," Theta shook his head. "Matching isn't any fun. Why match when you could make a million different color combinations?"  
"I don't understand how you could find wearing mismatching clothes to be so much fun…" Luke said.  
"Try it, and you'll understand," Theta replied. "Once you go color clash, you never go back."  
***


End file.
